Beverly Hills Hotel history

The hotel opened May 12, 1912, before the city's existence.

As Hollywood began to grow, by 1914, directors, actors, and actresses started to move into the newly constructed homes near the Beverly Hills Hotels.

The first five bungalows of the hotel were built in 1915.

In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and his wife, Mary Pickford, bought and expanded a lodge above the hotel, which they named Pickfair.

In 1920, Douglas Fairbanks and his wife Mary Pickford moved to ‘Pickfair’, their house built on 18 acres of land above the hotel.

With Bank of America funding, the hotel reopened in 1932.

Our legendary pool opened in 1938 as ‘The Sand and Pool Club’, complete with sand to make it feel like a true beach club.

In 1940, one of the hotel's long-time patrons, Marlene Dietrich, was instrumental in bringing about a change in policy in the Polo Lounge, which had made it compulsory for women to don skirts, which she refused to wear.

In 1941, Hernando Courtright, the vice president of the Bank of America, purchased the hotel with friends.

In 1942, Don Loper, a famous dancer, fashion designer, and interior designer, created the famous Martinique banana leaf wallpaper, exclusively for the Beverly Hills Hotel.

In 1947, Courtright opened the Crystal Room and the Lanai Restaurant, later called The Coterie.

The hotel was first painted its distinctive pink back in 1948, to complement the sunset and popular country style of the time.

The Crescent Wing was built in 1949 and designed by renowned architect Paul R. Williams, along with the reimagined Polo Lounge, Fountain Coffee Room and the lobby.

In 1954, Detroit real estate magnate Ben L. Silberstein bought the hotel for $5.5 million.

In 1956, the hotel’s signature pool and cabana club opened.

Richard M. Nixon's chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, and presidential aide John Ehrlichman were eating breakfast in the Polo Lounge when they were informed of the Watergate burglary in 1972.

The Polo Lounge was once again renovated in 1974 featuring table lamps and flowers, along with pink and green booths, each having their own private plug-in telephone.

In 1986, Marvin Davis bought the hotel from Boesky.

On December 30, 1992, the Beverly Hills Hotel closed for the very first time for a restoration period for two and a half years.

The project lasted two and a half years with the hotel reopening on June 3, 1995, with upgrades to furniture and fittings.

The hotel is now managed and owned by the Dorchester Collection, organized in 1996 to manage the hotel interests of the Brunei Investment Agency.

In 2007, a new lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel opened called “Bar Nineteen 12”, named after the year the hotel opened.

In 2011, two Presidential bungalows were created and replaced the tennis courts.

The hotel was also named the first historic landmark in Beverly Hills in September 2012.

In May 2014, the Beverly Hills City Council passed a resolution urging the Sultan of Brunei to sell the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The Dorchester Collection responded by saying they "do not tolerate any form of discrimination." In May 2019, the Sultan of Brunei said that his county's "de facto moratorium" on capital punishment would apply to cases under the new laws, and promised to ratify the UN Convention against Torture.